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Mike and Mad Dog offer to announce Mets game on WFAN

Bret Sabermetric Jan 13 2006 03:04 PM

Their producer was just on, discussing this year's radio announcing team (tuned in late, but it sounded like Keith Hernandez is doing most of them) and they offer to switch jobs with the two announcers. For one game, but the producer (station manager?) said it was the Mets call. M&MD offered to donate their daily salary if the Mets agree. Can't wait.

metirish Jan 13 2006 03:06 PM

F&*k them both, they both HATE the Mets, especially Francesa.

seawolf17 Jan 13 2006 03:09 PM

Considering the meticulous (SC=100) way they prepare for their own daily broadcast, that would totally lick balls.

Elster88 Jan 13 2006 03:13 PM Edited 2 time(s), most recently on Jan 13 2006 03:19 PM

metirish wrote: F&*k them both, they both HATE the Mets, especially Francesa. Neither of them hate the Mets. Both of them enjoy making an idiot caller look stupid, but neither is nearly as harsh on Met fans as some of the posters on this forum. I know most people hate them, but I am a supporter. Mike knows a few things about a few things. Dog not so much, except maybe for tennis. I enjoy the show, and I think it would be interesting to hear them do a game as a novelty. I think Mike has a background doing play-by-play, though not necessarily baseball.

metirish Jan 13 2006 03:14 PM

Yeah Francesa hates the Mets, I've heard him admit it when pressed by Russo.

Elster88 Jan 13 2006 03:17 PM

I've heard him say that he was rooting for the Mets before a crucial game or series on many an occasion. He also roots for them to make it interesting for his show. If he hated the Mets I doubt he would do so. I think he feels about the Mets the way I feel about the Yankees. He doesn't hate the Mets. He hates Met fans. Considering the idiots who call into that show, I don't blame him. Considering that many people on this forum also hate Met fans, I don't blame him.

Bret Sabermetric Jan 13 2006 03:22 PM

metirish wrote: F&*k them both, they both HATE the Mets, especially Francesa. This is an interesting larger point: who else do you think hates the Mets? I'll take Irish's response here to be one vote for Mike and one for Dog, but surely there are others on your own personal list of known "Met haters." (And I didn't call you "Shirley," I called everyone "Shirley.")

MFS62 Jan 13 2006 03:28 PM

Bret Sabermetric wrote: ="metirish"]F&*k them both, they both HATE the Mets, especially Francesa. This is an interesting larger point: who else do you think hates the Mets? I'll take Irish's response here to be one vote for Mike and one for Dog, but surely there are others on your own personal list of known "Met haters." (And I didn't call you "Shirley," I called everyone "Shirley.") Based on their penchant for biting sarcasm and history of (at least at times) outright Met-bashing, this would be like inviting Osama Bin Laden to a Bar Mitzvah. Later

Frayed Knot Jan 13 2006 03:47 PM

The guy they were chatting with was the station manager Mark Chernoff. They called him in just to go over some details because of the new TV announcing being in the news and all even though FAN really has nothing to do with that. All they were really doing was pressing Chernoff on the state of the radio side: - Howie, as the new "lead" guy will do 5 innings of p-b-p (including 1st & 9th innings) and the new guy McCarthy to do 4. Cohen and Howie had a 6-3 split. - Eddie C. to still do pre-game (Mets Extra) plus post game with McCarthy: Eddie downstairs in the clubhouse, McCarthy up in the booth. - Eddie still to be the fill-in guy on radio; particularly before hockey season ends when Howie is still doing Islander TV The M&MD "offer" was to switch jobs for a day with the [u:a114f1bea9]radio[/u:a114f1bea9] team: M&MD would do the game while Howie & McCarthy would take the afternoon drivetime gig (presumably the same day). Chernoff's OK with it but said the decision is up to the Mets since it's their announcing team. Neither of them have ever had any steady p-b-p experience - although I've heard them do basketball before: MD on p-b-p, Mike on color - but it might be fun just as a change of pace. Worrying about whether an announcer actually roots for your team or not is a waste of time IMO. Benigno & Sid used to make the same offer (read: beg) all the time but thankfully no one ever took them up on it. Both of them [u:a114f1bea9]ARE[/u:a114f1bea9] Met fans but that doesn't mean I want either one of them - much less both - anywhere near a booth during a game.

TheOldMole Jan 13 2006 07:54 PM

I don't think it's necessary to be a fan of a team to be a good announcer. Probably a negative, in fact. Not to say I think Mike and the Dog would be even vaguely competent. I remember one time listening to a caller asking the Dog how slugging percentage was figured. The Dog had no idea. "Does it have anything to do with total bases?" the caller asked. "Nope, nohing to do with total bases."

Elster88 Jan 13 2006 08:36 PM

Dog doesn't know a lot of things. I'm guessing you're misremembering though. I'm sure he knows how to calculate slugging. I doubt Dog would be competent too, though. I think Mike would be okay.

MFS62 Jan 13 2006 09:30 PM

Elster88 wrote: I doubt Dog would be competent too, though. I think Mike would be okay. I think the exact opposite. Massive Mike has never done play-by-play to the best of my knowledge. He started out as a back room research geek , wth a specialty in college sports. They started interviewing him as a regular on tv, based on one year when he had a good prediction record for upcoming games, and he got his radio gig from there. I don't think he ever paid his dues as a p-b-p guy. By contrast, the Cretinous Canine has done a lot of play by play in at least basketball and football since his days in college. If you can get past his voice, I'd be he could do a pretty good job. Later

SI Metman Jan 13 2006 09:30 PM

They offered to do Giants preseason games before their buddy Carlin got the gig last summer. Joe and Sid did a Cyclones game last summer too. Sid did p-b-p, Joe did color. Seriously, it'd be an interesting stunt. I don't dislike them because they root for other teams and a lot of people bitch because they tell the truth. The Mets just came through a period where they weren't good. Were they supposed to pull a Michael Kay and say everything was fine?

Beenso Jan 13 2006 10:08 PM

i enjoy their show, especially after listening to other talk show hosts that are out there. they can obviously be know it all's and annoying at times. however, i think its difficult to dispute the fact they are excellent interviewers and aren't afraid to ask anything. the duquette interview after the kazmir trade was classic.

Edgy DC Jan 13 2006 11:46 PM

A lot of people bitch because they tell the truth?

metirish Jan 13 2006 11:50 PM

OK, my comment about Francesa hating the Mets was perhaps a bit much, but I have watched him enough to know he takes glee when the Mets fuck up, yes for his show it helps if the Mets are doing good or at least making the back page, I could really care less that he's a huge yankee fan, what I hate about francesa is that he treats the people that call in llike shit a lot of the time, yeah some are fools but those fools make that show and talk radio, he is so dismissive of them, Russo from what I see is not, Francesa is though.

TheOldMole Jan 14 2006 12:46 AM

No, that's a correct recollection. It was early in his career. He probably knows it now.

SI Metman Jan 14 2006 08:27 PM

Edgy DC wrote: A lot of people bitch because they tell the truth? About how this franchise was a joke. I mean these guys advocated the Mets getting Piazza back in '98. Would that be the action of talkies who hated the Mets?

Edgy DC Jan 14 2006 08:45 PM

That's an easy and amorphous position to take. I don't see how it's an established fact or the position itself reflects well on them. And advocating the Mets acquire Mike Piazza was an extraordinalrly easy position to take. Standing up for the consequences of choices is the tough part that few radio hosts have to do and far fewer volunteer to. It's always the populist technique to bash the team when they disappoint. (Check jock radio in any town). That doesn't count as analysis or truth. It's also a pretty popular (thus populist) position that I would imagine endears them to as many fans as it alienates. More, maybe.

Elster88 Jan 14 2006 10:46 PM

In general I think they have been fair about bashing the Mets. For example, they do not bash them for the Robbie Alomar acquisition or the Jeromy Burnitz signing. Plenty of Met "die-hards" do so. BTW, I really hate the term die-hard.